I think it does help as it would have cut down on the minutes of McD/Girardi/Staal.

The other thing that would have helped was picking up Brian Rolston off waivers and using him on the 4th line and as a trigger man on the PP.

But that's all over with, hopefully he can comeback as it's been almost 11 months since that nasty hit.

Even with Nash, the Rangers are still missing a piece or two. Sauer is one and they still need one more goal scorer. Jesper Fasth is that wildcard. He comes in next year and can score 20+ goals, he puts them over the top.

I think it does help as it would have cut down on the minutes of McD/Girardi/Staal.

The other thing that would have helped was picking up Brian Rolston off waivers and using him on the 4th line and as a trigger man on the PP.

But that's all over with, hopefully he can comeback as it's been almost 11 months since that nasty hit.

Even with Nash, the Rangers are still missing a piece or two. Sauer is one and they still need one more goal scorer. Jesper Fasth is that wildcard. He comes in next year and can score 20+ goals, he puts them over the top.

I agree that the Rangers could address some depth issues.

I strongly disagree that Brian Rolston and Jesper Fasth are recent or current answers.

I strongly disagree that Brian Rolston and Jesper Fasth are recent or current answers.

I was in the minority with the Rolston thing from last season but he was on waivers and I know he was older than the sun, skates like molasses, and didn't have any jam but I take his three points in 7 playoff games and used solely on the PP over Bickel or Emminger as a 4th line winger.

Jean, Miller, and Lindberg all will challenge for 3rd and 4h line minutes in 2013-14 so that leaves Fasth, Thomas, and St. Croix battling for 2nd to 3rd line spot. I'm not saying he'll be ready but he could put them over the top.

On D, hopefully Sauer can return but if not they need to sign a UFA. Douglas Murray would be good but he's gonna be $$$$.

If Sauer was healthy last year we would have won the stanley cup and the NHL wouldn't be locked out right now either. That's how much of an impact he would have made. Seriously.

Thanks for the sarcasm but anyone who knows the game realizes that we lost to the Devils because they forechecked us to death. If we had another strong defensive defenseman in the lineup throughout the playoffs our D would have been much better equipped to handle that forecheck and chances are we win the series. Beating the Kings is another story, but it's stupid to downplay the impact Sauer likely would have had on our playoff fortunes, unless of course you became a Ranger fan last week and have no idea how good a player Mike is.

If Sauer was healthy, do you think he would have made a difference in where the Rangers ended up?

Yeah, potentially. I remember commenting on that our D's a few times against NJ kind of broke down. Especially in G2 IIRC.

There were a couple of games there when NJD just seemed to have all kind of room in our defensive zone. They were able to get in the face of Hank and scored several goals of deflections, rebounds etc. While at the other side of the rink, things were extremely crowed infront of Marty -- as up until this point had been the case in our zone too -- and it seemed like shots never made it even halfway to the net and so forth.

Its something you don't often think about, if someone cough up the puck and a goal is scored its noted by everyone. But in this case our forwards all of a sudden didn't quite get into the shooting lanes and our D's wasn't really riding the NJD forwards defensviely. McD, Girardi and Staal had been forced to play really hard for a long time, neither is really that experienced, which could explain the situation that occured. Another D like Sauer potentially could have helped there...

Thanks for the sarcasm but anyone who knows the game realizes that we lost to the Devils because they forechecked us to death. If we had another strong defensive defenseman in the lineup throughout the playoffs our D would have been much better equipped to handle that forecheck and chances are we win the series. Beating the Kings is another story, but it's stupid to downplay the impact Sauer likely would have had on our playoff fortunes, unless of course you became a Ranger fan last week and have no idea how good a player Mike is.

Sauer would have made a HUGE difference. He is a physical defenseman. He is very smart as well in his own end. He would've been able to endure the forecheck the devils put on as well as the capitals and senators, though the latter teams were to a lesser extent.

But it's not even that. It's the human nature aspect of it all. We had two 7 game series. Torts began to sit Bickel and go with 5 defensemen in the Washington series. The team simply wore down. They were getting beat to loose pucks. I'm not going to get all that crazy in this "theory" but even on the game winner by Henrique in game 6, it was a loose puck that he put home because we couldn't react quick enough. Not to mention the 5 on the ice were a step behind on that play. When you are tired physically, mentally you slow down as well. We all know this. Torts didn't trust Bickel otherwise he would've been out there. Bickel cost us a couple goals in the playoffs. Sauer doesn't make many mistakes and he would've been out there.

Thanks for the sarcasm but anyone who knows the game realizes that we lost to the Devils because they forechecked us to death. If we had another strong defensive defenseman in the lineup throughout the playoffs our D would have been much better equipped to handle that forecheck and chances are we win the series.

That was part of the problem. The fact that the Rangers struggled to score goals was a bigger reason because that accounted for the biggest issue — they went to a 7th game in the previous two series. Sauer would not have helped there. And not having Sauer doesn't explain why they had some many problems establishing a presence and possession in the offensive zone.

The team won an amazingly large amount of one-goal games. A mathematically freaky amount. The math righted itself in the playoffs. No one player could have changed that.

The good news is that for as much as everything gelled at the right time for this team last year, which allowed us to get deep into the playoffs, we are not even at our peak yet. We've gotten better in the offseason with the acquisition of Nash and the further development of our young players. Dubinski and AA had maxxed out, most likely, and so they won't be missed just as soon as other young guys come down the pipeline such as Miller, Lindberg, and Fasth.

That could be this year or in future years. We are primed to be a strong cup contender for a while. And with Nash in the fold, even if we lose Gaborik, we have the assets to make another trade for a top line forward if we have to. Plus with Kreider and Stepan developing, and with the young defensive core and a dominant Lunquist, we are in good shape.

If a healthy Sauer comes back, well, we are gonna be just a very, very tough team to beat in a 7 game series.

It should be us and Pittsburgh at the top of the east for a few years.

A healthy Steve Eminger would have been a big help. He struggled to get going but would have been a solid 6th dman instead of Bickel I'm expecting him to be much better if we play this year

Sauer forget it he's done if its not this concussion it will be the next one or a shoulder or hip or something always has been with him. His healthy year was the actual fluke guy never has stayed healthy ever.

More importantly if we starte jan 19th would Gaborik be ready to go? Initial thought was he'd join us in december

Basically all the other Dmen would of been well rested. Going with only 5 for most of the minutes must of hurt. Its funny how they still brought back Bickel and Eminger after they showed no trust in them but I guess everyone needs cheaper depth players.

On the other hand Stralman did well in his time and scored some big playoff goals. He may not have gotten all that time with Sauer healthy. REALLY hope this guy can get healthy and contribute this yr

Sauer would've helped with him being a more reliable D-man, but I think the bigger problem is Torts not using 4 lines. ALL of our guys were burned out because our 4th liners were only getting 5 mins a game. Meanwhile, the Devils were rolling 4 lines with their 4th line getting around 10 mins per game. That extra rest really would've helped our guys out. In todays NHL you need to roll 4 lines of offense and 3 lines of D...consistently.